@seth

Ten years ago I joined Fred Wilson at Flatiron Partners as its Entrepreneur in Residence and helped launch a program in Pervasive Computing:

Companies focused on pervasive computing develop hardware, software and services for post-pc gadgets. Flatiron is betting that as people become more connected to the Internet, they will want increased access to online services. According to Flatiron, “as information appliances proliferate, we will soon be interacting with the Internet in our kitchen, in our car, and through our PDA’s, smart phones and clothing.”

I remember hosting a dinner featuring Jim Balsillie, co-founder of Research in Motion. At the time, I was one of the few people I knew of in New York carrying around this geeky email pager:

Little did I know that ten years later it would come to define mass market email use.

Consistent though this history has been the importance of the thumb as an input mechanism.  The original ridged thumbwheel moved to the side of the device in subsequent years and then emerged on the front of the device as a trackball.  The latest instantiation in the Blackberry 9700 is a smooth touch sensitive trackpad that seems to telepathically anticipate which message you want to read:

The number of technology inventions these past ten years is astounding; still, I believe that the Blackberry’s particular relationship with the thumb is an insightful lens through which to trace the history of Pervasive Computing.

I think the lesson here is, like any smart business, relentless focus on a core benefit. The Blackberry has always been the best device for reading and writing email.  It has never done well as an entertainment device, as compared to the iPhone with its music and videogame applications.  Nor do I think it will become an app platform like Android.  Instead, RIM perfectly fuses its keyboard and thumb-input interfaces with the latest email protocols to create an optimal email experience.

People may scoff at the ease at which Apple or HTC or Sony or Samsung might copy the Blackberry form factor and surpass it with better software.  And yet, over the course of ten long years, the Blackberry has not only fended off these competitive threats, it has greatly expanded its market share.